CHARLOTTE, N.C. â€” Green Bay Packers rookie Terrence Murphy was taken to a hospital after sustaining a neck injury in the second quarter of Monday nightâ€™s game against the Carolina Panthers.

After Carolina kicked the ball off, Packers running back Najeh Davenport muffed the catch and Murphy recovered. Murphy returned the ball 7 yards before being hit by Panthers safety Thomas Davis. On the hit, the helmets of the players collided, and Murphy was left motionless on the field.

After lying on the field for several minutes, Murphy was carted off the field. It was later announced Murphy had movement in all of his extremities, but also had â€œweakness, numbness and tinglingâ€

Carolina's Medical Center is one of the nation's leading surgical centers. People are flown into CMC from all over the country for everything from brain surgery to heart transplants. Spinal surgery is very serious stuff, but he (if it is necessary) would be in great hands.

That was the one thing I didn't want to happen Monday night. As Carolina is in the heart of the bible belt, everyone in those stands and across the Carolinas were praying hard for Murphy I assure you (and still are).

Especially Thomas Davis. What the hell was he thinking leading with his helmet? It could easily have been him laid out on his back. Madden is right....these guys are using the helmet as a weapon.

BTW...I'm not trying to rag on Davis.....I just wish these guys in the NFL would realize they are not indestructible. It happens all the time and nobody thinks about it until something like this happens.

Carolina fans were genuinely concerned for him which was real nice to see.....but I'm not sure it has anything to do with being in the "Bible Belt"....I think it has more to do with being human.

Especially Thomas Davis. What the hell was he thinking leading with his helmet? It could easily have been him laid out on his back. Madden is right....these guys are using the helmet as a weapon.

Click to expand...

Yes Madden was right and you could tell he was mad about it. Like he said. "if have you ever picked up a regulation Pro helmet, you would know the destruction one could cause with it". them thing are heavy and hard and the front is like re-bar.

Murphy is starting to show promise and something like that happens. We all hope it's not serious and he bounces right back.

As far as them picking up somebody, there is not a lot out there but we might still need a "warm" body to fill that position if things go healthier.

I understand the point you are making, but I think in the NFL as fast as it is and as hard as it played is it is hard for you and I to say Davis was leading with his helmut. Lets give Davis a break on this one.

The NFL is a fast game played by awesome humans with awesome power and speed. The difference between a helmut to helmut shot and a shoulder to helmut shot is about 26 inches.

There was no flag on the play. I did not see him as leading with his helmut but I may be wrong.

Yea RP....I tried to hold back. It was helmet to helmet but I don't think it was intentional. You can tell on Thomas' face that he was concerned. Without trying to villianize Thomas I was trying to point out that these guys seem to be using their helmets as weapons. I don't know if they are being taught or the fact that the helmets are so protective they feel like they are invincible.

I seriously doubt it was intentional. That play developed way quicker than expected as Murphy picked up the muffed Davenport kickoff. Davis is barreling down on Davenport, and next thing he knows the guy with the ball is 20 ft closer to him than a second ago. Not much time to think about what you're doing.

I liked Madden's comment that the nfl should go back to "leather helmets"...and "then you wouldn't see these guys using their helmets as a weapon..."

Click to expand...

There use to be an O-lineman for the 49ers in the late 80s or early 90s who had concussion problems, and they snapped a styrofoam covering on the outside of his helmet that was painted with the 49er logo on it to help give him more protection.

I don't think this would eliminate every injury, but I think it would help reduce the number of helmet related injuries. I think it would help QBs too, because they often break their thumbs or fingers slamming into helmets after they throw. Slamming into a styrofoam covering instead of a hard helmet would have to help some I would think.

So I don't understand why they just don't make all players wear those. They were kind of dumb looking, but protecting the health of players should be more important than the looks.